Basic Trope: A character kills someone and takes on their identity.
- Straight:
- Alice, a shapeshifter, kills Bob and assumes his form to impersonate him.
- Alternatively, Clyde, Bob's lookalike, kills the latter and replaces him.
- Exaggerated: Alice kills Bob, assumes his form, and repeats the process to go on a murder spree.
- Downplayed: Alice doesn't kill Bob, just knocks him out, and impersonates him through a disguise rather than shapeshifting.
- Justified:
- Alice needs money, so she kills and impersonates Bob, a guard, to steal the money.
- Clyde is Bob from an alternative universe and wants to kill Bob to reclaim his life.
- Inverted:
- Alice kills Bob and turns his body into a copy of her own (living or dead).
- Alice kills Bob and Bob's mind overwrites Alice's.
- Subverted: Clyde, appears in town and begins to impersonate him, but reveals he's doing it for a prank.
- Double Subverted: Clyde claims it's a prank, but then really kills Bob and impersonates him.
- Parodied: Alice kills and impersonates Bob, but her acting is really bad and everyone can immediately tell Bob's been replaced.
- Zig-Zagged: Alice attempts to kill Bob, but then Bob reveals himself to also be a shapeshifter. He kills Alice and assumes her identity.
- Averted: Alice doesn't kill Bob and replace him.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "It's always typical for shapeshifters and doppelgangers to try and replace someone."
- Invoked: Alice undergoes a ritual to turn into a shapeshifter so she can kill and replace Bob.
- Or Clyde undergoes surgery so he looks like Bob so the former can impersonate the latter.
- Exploited: Bob is aware Alice is a shapeshifter and is planning to kill him, so he prepares accordingly by teaching his friends to ask certain questions only he would know the answer to if he was acting strange or suspicious.
- Bob also knows Clyde is in town, so takes similar precautions.
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: Alice corners Bob, shapeshifts into his doppelganger, and Bob complains, "Are you gonna do that thing where you kill me and replace me like in those horror movies?" Alice responds yes, and kills him.
- Conversed: "Oh, I know what happens next. Alice is gonna kill Bob so she can impersonate him and steal the money."
